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You need a pardon? Here’s what you need to know about pardons and how they work in Canada

In Canada, pardons are granted by the Parole Board. For the Parole Board to grant you a pardon, you need to meet certain criteria, but we’ll get to that in a second. Before we go into what you need to do or what you need to have so that you are eligible for sending a pardon application, let’s take a look at what a pardon implies in Canada.

In Canada, receiving a pardon is not a form of “wiping” a crime. It is not a form of acknowledging that you have been previously found guilty by error and that you have been convicted wrongfully. Through obtaining a pardon, Canadian citizens have the opportunity of starting over and becoming functioning parts of society once more. Another critical factor about pardons is that they remove the individual’s criminal record from currently active criminal records, thus improving his or hers chances for re-integration.

There are numerous crimes and convictions for which one can apply for, and receive a pardon. You can learn about what convictions are eligible by checking out a comprehensive list of pardons QA . Such convictions can be minor ones or more elevated. There are various delimiters that work for or against a convict in determining their pardon eligibility.

As for what is required for you to be eligible for a pardon, there are multiple criteria. One of the most important is demonstrating that your past criminal actions will not deter you from achieving a crime-free lifestyle in the future. Another important condition is to have demonstrated a good behavior during incarceration. The more reasons you can give the Parole Board to believe that you are not a threat to society, the better.

Filing a pardon application can be very time consuming and very tedious. The usual time frame within which an application is completed can stretch anywhere from a couple months to an entire year. There are multiple ways in which you can approach the process.

You can opt to do everything yourself, which is obviously the least expensive method, but that also means that you are required to do all the footwork and research about necessary preparations yourself;

You can hire a pardon service agency that can guide you through the process and lift a huge weight off your shoulder while also providing valuable information collected through experience in the field;

You could hire a lawyer to help you with the application, making use of their knowledge in law. However, this solution is the most expensive in most cases.